Tim Banks is the CEO of APM, a Canada wide construction and property development company, with its head office in Charlottetown, PEI. My family has lived on PEI for over eight generations and I was born at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside, PEI. I am hoping someone will soon develop a blood test to authenticate when you actually become an "Islander" as I am still having problems explaining where I'm from?

Thursday, May 29, 2008

It is very exciting that a young man from Cornwall, PEI has made it this far in the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. and I'm sure he has worked very hard in doing so, but I would guess that in the background there has been a lot help from his parents, friends, teachers and his sponsor, the Charlottetown Guardian. Keep up the great work Jonathan as you should be very proud to even get to this amazing level. When I was younger, Frank Maholovich was # 27 for the Leafs and he was my favourite player and when he moved to the Canadians and took the number with him I couldn't believe how "lucky" I was that he left the Leafs. Since then I have always considered # 27 as my lucky number and I see this is the number they have given Jonathon and I hope it is as good to him as its been to me. To see Jonathon's results go to http://public.spellingbee.com/public/results/round_results

Best of Luck Jonathon.

P.E.I. speller makes it to quarterfinals at Scripps bee in WashingtonThe GuardianJonathan Schut P.E.I. spelling champion Jonathan Schut of Cornwall has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.Jonathan and 287 other spellers began round two of the preliminaries early today but the number of spellers is now down to 90.The quarterfinals will be held later today, followed by the semifinals on Friday and the final round on Friday evening.Jonathan is part of a strong showing by the Canadian spellers at the Scripps bee. He will be joined by 12 other Canadian spellers in the quarterfinals. Jonathan captured the CanWest CanSpell regional spelling bee sponsored by The Guardian at UPEI on March 1. That earned him the right to attend the Canadian spelling bee in Ottawa in April and the Scripps bee in Washington.